


Da'adahlen

by littleblue_eyedbird



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Fun Family Times, Gen, glimpses into Anise's childhood, or as I think of cute child shenanigans for Anise to get into, short stand alone fics, will update as prompted
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-10-30 02:24:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10867059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleblue_eyedbird/pseuds/littleblue_eyedbird
Summary: a collection of stories from Anise's childhood





	Da'adahlen

“No, hold it like this!”

Anise flinched as Ghilas’an grabbed her hand and readjusted the quill that was clumsily pinched between her two fingers. 

“Sorry,” he apologized and loosened his grip, “I’ll help you write it, but you gotta spell out the letters to me okay?”

She returned his smile, though not quite as brightly. Ghilas’an had a smile like the sun that could light forests on fire. 

“Ready? Go!”

“A,” she said quietly, watching as her brother guided her hand through the motions of drawing the letter.

“N,” she continued, thinking how strange it was that her brother was so easily able to form the shapes needed to spell her name. For her, it took ages. 

“I–,” she began to say, but quickly shut her mouth when her eldest brother cleared his throat.

“What do you think you’re doing?,” Eltheran asked Ghilas’an snidely, crossing his arms.

“She needed help! I was only–”

“If you do everything for her she’ll never know how to do it!”

Ghilas’an let his hand drop and sighed. Anise hastily looked up at him in worry. 

“He’s right you know,” Ghilas’an told her, “If I always help you, what will you do when I’m not here?”

Anise’s shoulders slumped.

“Besides, you’re teaching her how to hold a quill wrong,” Eltheran pointed out, crossing and gently adjusting her fingers into the another position.

“Oi, if I can’t help her you can’t help her!” Ghilas’an smacked him.

Eltheran shoved him back. “I’m the oldest, so I get to–”

“That’s not fair–”

Anise covered her ears with the quill still in hand.

“Yeah it is–”

“No, its—”

“ _Da’len_!”

The two boys stopped bickering and immediately faced their mother.

“You can both help your sister, but you can’t fight over it. She will need you two to look up to, and if she sees you fighting all the time…?”

“We aren’t doing a very good job,” Ghilas’an muttered, kicking the dirt.

“Yes, so go wash up. The hunters and I caught dinner and they’re prepping it now. Go,” Anise’s mother swatted at her sons playfully, breaking the air of tension, sending them off in a giggling race to their aravel.

Then she turned to smile down upon Anise. Much like Ghilas’an, their mother’s smile was just as bright, but it reminded Anise of moonlight on a warm, summer night. 

“How are you da'adahlen?”

“Better now,” she replied, removing her hands from her ears with a toothy smile. 

“Want to show me what you’re writing?”

She held up the thin parchment with first three letters wobbled out, and a smear of ink from her brothers’ jostling around her.

“Wow, that is great little one, why don’t we finish it and then head up to eat?”

Anise promptly sat in her mother’s lap once she had sat down behind her. Anise gripped the quill the way Eltheran showed her and began to write. A small chuckle from her mother made her pause after she wrote “S”.

“What?” She turned around to stare inquisitively at her mother.

“Ani, neither of your brothers know how to hold a quill right. How were you holding it before they tried to help you?”

Anise readjusted the quill for the fourth time, and earned a hum of approval from her mother. 

“It may feel silly at first, but your fingers will grow stronger and it’ll be easier to hold. Just like learning to hold a bow and knock an arrow.” She kissed the top of Anise’s head

“You still promise to show me how?!” Anise dropped the quill and spun all the way around in her mother’s lap and threw her arms around her neck.

This earned her another soft laugh, “Of course, da’adahlen. On your fifth name day, I promise.”

Anise nestled her face into her mother’s neck, “I want to be huntress too.”

“One day, Ani,” her mother said as she stood, scooping Anise up in her arms you will be.”


End file.
